Doglands
by Sable Scribe
Summary: Kagome has gotten bored. She's not happy in the city anymore, so much so she wishes she was still in a coma. When Teppei offers to help her find a job at Nakatani Heartlands, she can't resist the chance to get out of the city. Maybe she'll find her place!
1. Dog'one Tired

I don't own anything.

AN: This shall be a Minoru/Kagome romance.

For those of you wonder who Minoru is, he is a minor character in the manga Inubaka. I truely loved his character and hope he reappears in the manga.

This is what he looks like:

www . mangafox . com / manga / inubaka / v09 / c087 /21 . html

Chapter 1

Kagome sighed, she loved working at Woofles. She really did, it was one of the reason she still worked here after being signed with a publishing company for her fiction work "Inu Yasha."

But she felt like she was being eaten up on the inside, the city held no appeal to her, to be honest she wished she was still in her coma were she'd be back in the world of Inu Yasha, or Ranma, or whatever else had been inside her mind during that time period.

On her fifteenth birthday she's fallen down the well on their family shrine. She'd cracked her head on the way down, and had spent nearly a year in a coma, when she'd woken up they had been forced to explain that she'd simply gone on a very, very long vacation within her own mind. Apparently she'd been pretty fucking bored, and being influenced by her grandpa's stories made several stories inside her mind.

So here she was so many year later after getting a degree in creative writing, working at a pet shop. While writing at night, and finally after 8 months worth of fighting with a publishing company she was here.

And she was extremely unhappy, she loved working for Teppei she adored getting to know their customers, her co-worker, she had even gotten to love Lupin, even though the dog stole her underwear and shoved his nose in her crotch every time he got a chance. She was beginning to worry both Suguri and Momoko, her roommates in the girls' dorm. Not only that, but Kagome KNEW, she was making her three sweet doggies worry more than necessary!

Kagome sighed, again, damnit, she needed to talk to Teppei. She just couldn't ignore this anymore; she was really beginning to hate this town, all the hustle and bustle. The loudness and idiocy were getting on her last nerve.

"Ma'am, ma'am!" A young boy was looking at her over the counter.

Kagome smiled weakly, "I'm sorry. Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah, there are some puppies I want to see." The boy replied, he looked to be about eleven or so.

"Alright let's go see." Kagome sent the boy a bright smile, and nearly broke down into giggles at his bright blush.

"Well, I really like the Labrador." The boy smiled.

"Alright, let's go!" Kagome smiled, following the boy.

Teppei frowned, that kid had been calling Kagome for nearly ten minutes, and if it had been a more impatient customer it could have ended badly. Waving Suguri over, he almost smiled as she scurried over.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Teppei asked.

"No, Momoko and I are really worried. She hasn't said anything, but even the dogs can tell something is wrong." Suguri replied worry apparent in her eyes.

Teppei sighed running a hand over his face in frustration. "We need to talk to her about it, tonight! She can't keep doing this."

"Are you more worried about her, or Woofles?" Suguri asked a slightly dangerous look in her eyes. After meeting Kagome, and her "kidnapper" she'd grown up quite a bit in a number of ways. She was much more serious and though things through

Teppei raised a brow, "Both."

"Correct answer," Suguri finally replied, "We were going to take to her tonight on the roof, Momoko and I. But seeing how you're so concerned you can talk to her tonight."

"Suguri." Teppei looked annoyed.

"Hmm?" An eyebrow rose, "I'm not going to just leave you hanging Teppei."Suguri finally giggled, she couldn't be to stern for very long.

He glared in response, before sighing when she kissed him lightly.

"Your fun to tease." Suguri laughed before wondering back to the puppies, completely ignoring the indignant look on her boyfriend's face.

Everyone was one the roof that night and things were more than a little awkward, neither Suguri nor Momoko felt comfortable talking about things in front of Kentaro. While Teppei just wanted to hide in a corner to get out of this particular conversation, while he was worried about Kagome he didn't need to know the details.

Kentaro sighed, he wasn't oblivious and Kagome was one of the hotties you just couldn't ignore. "Kagome, what's bothering you?" He finally asked, he was positive he wasn't the only one asking.

Kagome chuckled, while the other three were more than a little startled. "I'm just tired of living in the city, Ken. I just want to get away."

"Kagome, are you thinking about moving?" Momoko asked, a bit sad. Chizuru and she would miss their partner in teasing Akiba and Suguri.

"Yeah, I just. I need to get away. I mean I love working here, with all of you guys. But I'm not happy. I feel like I'm being swallowed up." Kagome smiled weakly. "I was thinking about trying to find a breeding facility in the country and working there."

Teppei went still, maybe? Would she be willing to work there?

"Ah, so you want to work more with dogs than people then?" Suguri asked.

Kagome nodded, she really did love dogs, and she was vaguely thinking about breeding her own. She wanted to see and work with the process before she committed to such a thing.

"I might know some where you can work. They supply most of the puppies for Woofles." Teppei spoke calmly, "I could probably talk with Nakatani about giving you a short probation period, two of his long term workers have quit. But he needs them year round."

Kagome look rather cheered up, she'd heard a good bit about Nakatani Heartland from Suguri. It sounded perfect. "If I can get some internet access and a fax machine that's really all I need." She replied.

"Oh, will I be able to take my babies?" Kagome asked curious, as she looked over her dogs. Her Saluki, Hotaru was currently snuggled down against her side, while the Papillion, Choko was plopped down in Momoko's lap with Mel. Her newest baby, Hajime was molesting… err… harassing Kentaro, then again the small English springer spaniel was a puppy.

Teppei snorted, "Yes that should be fine. Do you want me to make the call?"

"Hai." Kagome grinned; she was going to be out of this town! She really hoped she would be allowed to at least try. She was so excited!


	2. Moving On

I don't own Inu baka or Inu Yasha they belong to Yukiya Sakuragi and Rumiko Takahashi.

Beta: Romantic Princess, BloodCherry

Thank you, Ladies!

**AN: I want to let everyone know that until school lets out again, I shall be putting some of my stories on Hiatus. I'm giving everyone the ability to vote on what stories they want to have finished first. For more information or to vote please see my profile.**

Chapter 2

Teppei groaned as he rolled over only to have a very small yet warm body pressed even more tightly against his own, ignoring the warmth he found himself looking toward the clock on his bedside table. It was roughly seven in the morning and they needed to leave by ten if Kagome wanted to get to the Nakatani Heartlands to set up her internet and phone lines, and get her things moved in.

Takeshi Nakatani had become more than just a supplier, he was possibly one of Teppei's greatest friends besides Kentaro and he had to admit that the man was doing him a great favor. Everyone at Woofles must have been able to tell that Kagome had been miserable; there had been a number of comments from the customers about how much happier she seemed in the last three weeks since they had started making arrangements.

Kagome was going to be set up in one of the three bedroom cabins that were littered across the Heartland grounds. While the main income for the Heartlands was the kennel they often rented out, the Cabins that were scattered across the land during the summer, they often kept their café and dining hall open during all hours as well. It was a great business, and had only flourished with age.

"Teeeppei," A small voice whined against his back, rolling over he grinned when small thin arms wrapped around his shoulders as he rolled over to lie on top of Suguri. She rarely stayed in the apartment that he'd rented for the girls, the only time she didn't stay in his apartment was when he was out of town. She would then plague the rest of the world with herself and Lupin.

Small lips pouted, "Teppei, I don't wanna get up." Those same lips were kissing and biting at his neck. A slow grin ran across his lips before he leaned down, and thrust his tongue into his girlfriend's ear, while the shriek that erupted into his ear was slightly mind numbing he knew she wouldn't go back to sleep afterwards.

"You jerk!" The short haired brunette immediately tried to swipe at him, he merely grabbed her wrists and kissed her roughly. He felt his heart beat faster at the small breathy moan that was released from her lips as his hands ran up and down her sides stroking her curvaceous body.

When Teppei pulled away he could only smile at the frustrated pout on her lips and the slightly glazed over look in her eyes, finally he let her go and he could only watch as she got out of bed hips swaying in panties and one of his t-shirts. Frustrating Suguri was possibly the most interesting and fun thing he had to do in the mornings. It was Sunday, one of the few days that he and the others had off, but today would be spent moving Kagome into her new home. Nearly everything had been packed the night before, her things were currently waiting in a covered trailer and the back of the Woofles Van.

Suguri huffed before heading into the bathroom to change, when she was out Teppei was still laying in bed. She scowled, how dare he wake her up by sticking his tongue in her ear! She didn't know what has gotten into him, but she wasn't enjoying the frisky attitude, then again she'd been cranky and uncomfortable for the last several days. "If you're not up by the time I'm back with Kagome… I'm going to let Lupin have at you."

Teppei rolled his eyes before getting up and getting dressed for the rest of the day, he was really glad that the van was so large considering they were moving three dogs, three people, and all of Kagome's things. Today was going to be a long day, but at least they weren't trying to get everything done today. Scratching at his neck roughly, he wondered into his bathroom it would take him some time to get ready… but at least he didn't have to round up Kagome and her dogs, she was such a klutz sometimes.

O

O

"Suguri… what's wrong?" Kagome asked, pulling on a pair of jean shorts, she'd been so excited about going to the Heartlands that she'd woken up extremely early and decided to go ahead and get ready for the day.

Suguri huffed as she layed out on the futon, it wasn't the most comfortable thing but it worked well enough for Kagome and her dogs. They would just have to put it into the van as well before they left, "I don't know… I just haven't been feeling well the last few weeks."

"Weeks! Why haven't you said something before now? And what's wrong, I mean, how does it feel? Bad?" Kagome asked, a frown on her face before being drawn back to her Saluki, she had a shirt in her mouth, "Thank you, Hotaru." Rubbing the dog's ears she looked at the t-shirt the dog had brought her, before pulling it over her head.

"Hmm, well, my back has been hurting and I'm tired a lot, I've also been getting a lot of headaches. I mean, this has never happened before… I don't want to tell Teppei because he would get worried. I mean, we're so close to opening up the shelter and the second Woofles store." Suguri sighed before folding her arms and dropping her head down onto her arms.

Kagome frowned, those were some odd symptoms… at least put together, "You've had a period recently, right?" She asked, all the while brushing her long thick hair into a high bun, once she was sure that the hair was secure she began to add several hair pins to the lose strands that always fell down. Turning back toward Suguri after the strangled sound that had been released from the other girl, Kagome found her to be sprawled out her face red as a tomato sputtering that yes, she'd had a period and that she was on birth control and they used condoms.

Rolling her eyes at the sputtering, Kagome dragged the girl with her. It was nearly time to go and she had to admit that she was extremely excited about the fact that she was going to be working at a new place, and living in a new place that was far from the city. It would be nice and quiet, there wouldn't be a loud subway train running nearby, there would be a lack of lights at night and the most important thing... it would be quiet at night.

"Alright, y'all stay!" Kagome grinned when the three dogs came to a halt. "Come on Suguri, I need to put the rest of my stuff into the van. And get the cage ready for the dogs." Suguri pouted, before finally getting up and began to help Kagome fold the futon. Once they were done, Kagome asked Momoko to keep the dog busy for a little while until they had the cage set up and the rest of her things were in the van.

As the two girls walked down the steps they were eventually met by Kentaro, who could only sigh before being dragged to help the two girls get the rest of Kagome's things inside and everything set up. Kentaro was left putting everything else in the trailer, both Kagome and Suguri began to set up the cage inside the van. It would need to be large simply because her Saluki wouldn't be happy being cramped.

Neither of the two girls noticed when Kentaro finished, but when he did a slow perverted grin slipped across his face as he watched the two of them squirm getting things fixed. Kagome was so young and pretty he sometimes forgot that she was supposed to be off limits, at least according to her little brother. Not that he listened, Kentaro never noticed Teppei coming down with Noa and Lupin so he just continued to sit there and watch as two nicely shaped rear ends skivvies move.

*SMACK*

"Stop that, you idiot." Teppei scowled, he'd been friends with Kentaro since he was little and the guy had always been lazy. On more than one occasion while the two of them had been growing up he'd smack the guy , but it really pissed him off when Ken stared down a girls ass; specifically his girlfriend's ass. Before he'd met Suguri it really hadn't bothered him, now that he had her; someone he considered near and dear to his heart, it just pissed him off.

Kentaro just grunted, he knew it bothered Teppei but in cases like this when there were two lovely plump little asses waving in the air for all the world to see… well, he wasn't one to turn away a gift from the gods!

"Everything's packed up, and it looks like Momoko has perfect timing." Kentaro promptly decided to ignore the smack on the head. He knew his friends were sorta stressed out, especially Kagome with changing her home address, her publisher and editor had practically jumped down her throat… then again, she was working on three to four different stories and she'd recently released a new story, so she was getting phone calls all the time on her cell phone.

Kagome sighed, she was really going to miss everyone from Akiba, Kim, and she would never admit it but she was going to miss Kanako as well, even if the piano teacher was a little high strung. She could only sigh as Momoko, Suguri and herself began to get the dogs settled in their makeshift crate/cage.

Turning around she sniffed and looked over the apartments and Woofles, this place had been her home at the end of her college life and it had been there when she'd gotten the first bite and then succeeded in publishing her first book. Kagome huffed before wiping at a few tears that had begun to fall.

"Wahh, I'm going to miss you guys." Kagome sniffed before she promptly hugged Kentaro, "Even if you do stare at my butt a lot."

The man in question began to laugh, all the while returning the hug, "It just means you're going to have to come back and visit." He grinned, his facial hair shaggy from lack of shaving, he really didn't see the point, "I might miss that ass of yours."

Kagome chuckled, "Meanie!" before moving on to hug Momoko, "At least Momo will miss me."

Momoko sniffled before returning the hug, "You have to call and everything. You have to visit… I know Teppei only goes up there every once in a while… so, you need to come back and get a car so you can always visit!"

Kagome nodded, as excited as she was to leave this place she wasn't excited to leave the people. She'd seen her family just a few days ago and they'd managed to say their goodbyes then, she'd been forced to promise by her little brother that she would indeed be back for his graduation, not that she had any intention of missing it to begin with. Backing away, she waved sadly before following Teppei and Suguri into the car.

It was a long ride, around 4 hours, and they were lucky that they were getting to leave earlier than they had planned. They probably wouldn't reach the lake and mountainous area until about twelve or one o'clock, and that is if they didn't have any problems on the highway.

O

O

It had been a very long ride, thankfully the dogs slept most of the way except Lupin, then again that particular dog really seemed to dislike being cooped up. Not that Kagome could blame him, they had taken a break in the middle of the ride to let everyone out to use the restroom and stretch their legs.

The closer they came to the long winding driveway the more excited Kagome became, it was beautiful because they were near the lower parts of the mountain range. There were high rising hills that rolled back down into the ground, they were covered in trees and it was beyond gorgeous.

As the van slowed, they could all see and older gentleman. His hair was still dark in color and he was tall and slender, a wiry build of someone who had worked a very long time. His face was thin and very angular with a square set jaw, his chin and upper lip were covered in a light smattering of facial hair which was just as dark as his hair.

Teppei smiled before rolling down the window, the man made his way toward them. "Takeshi, how are you?"

"Just fine, Teppei." The older man grinned, "Is this the girl you said would do well here?"

Teppei nodded, "Kagome, this is Takeshi Nakatani, Takeshi, this is Kagome Higurashi."

Kagome grinned from the back seat, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Takeshi grinned, she was certainly energetic he thought to himself. He'd been very iffy about letting someone from the city take a part of being in his business, but Teppei had managed to convince him otherwise. Then again, it was hard to say no when he was so short handed on staff, between working with the dogs and lacking waitresses in the café it hadn't been too hard to allow Teppei to convince him to take the girl on.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kagome." Opening the door to the van, he slipped in, "Now, the cabin we placed you in is a little farther away." The older man promptly began to give them directions, it took roughly three or four minutes to arrive at the small cabin, it was overlooking the Lake and there was a nice neat little trail back toward the main compound. The trail ran over a small wooden bridge, before meandering through a forested area then a clear cut meadow toward the kennels.

"Oh, wow. This is a lot more than I was expecting." Kagome smiled looking over the cabin. When Nakatani dropped a set of keys in her hands she had to stop herself from squealing, she settled for hugging the man and thanking him excitedly before rushing toward the front door. She could hear Suguri howling in laughter and the rush of feet as she followed her.

Takeshi blinked in surprise, "Is she always that energetic?"

"Yes," Was all Teppei could say shaking his head in laughter before popping open the back of the van and began to let the dogs out. "Is there somewhere we can put the five of them?"

"Five?" Nakatani asked, curious before he blinked in surprise. It wasn't often that you saw a Saluki in Japan, they weren't well known dogs and this one seemed to be a pure breed.

"Yeah… I left Noa boy at home, but she and Lupin like coming here. The other three are Kagome's; the Saluki is Hotaru, the Papillion is Choko, and the English Springer Spaniel is Hajime."

Takeshi laughed roughly, "You know how to find them, don't you, Teppei?"

Both men looked up when the girls walked back out, they could tell by the look on Kagome's face that she was beyond happy. Her bright blue eyes seemed to have a sunny spark, a soft rosy hue was running across her cheeks and she seemed to have a spring in her step.

"It's perfect!" Kagome grinned, sure it was a little low on furniture and she was going to have to go shopping, but she kept a major expense fund in one of her accounts for things like this. There would be plenty to furnish and decorate the place as she saw fit. She would be on the futon for a while but it would be alright, she was just so excited!

Suguri smiled, "I think so too, you know you're going to get a lot of visitors now, Kim and Chizuru are probably going to be up here every other weekend. Then again, I can see Souta coming up here pretty often too."

"Hey, Kagome, where do you want to put the dogs?" Teppei asked.

Kagome sighed, "Just get the futon out, put it in the back bed room and let them chill. They'll stay there until we're done." Then they were going to go on a really long, extremely long, walk, she knew Hotaru and Hajime were probably going out of their mind now with want to run. Her dogs were extremely well behaved and no matter how much they wanted to run out and about they would wait until she gave the okay.

Nakatani blinked in surprise, "I'll take them for a walk first, so you and the others go ahead and set the back room up."

"Thank you, Nakatani-san!" Kagome bowed, slightly relieved they could go on a night walk later in the evening. She watched the man walk away, Hotaru was following happily while Choko seemed to have spied a butterfly and was living up to her name and going after the delicate little insect, while Hajime was running around and trying to tangle himself in the older man's legs.

Suguri sighed, before she pushed the latch of the closed trailer up. The door quickly swung open, it was a little depressing when you looked at the stuff in there, most of it was used and was beginning to look a little ragged with use. But that was the way most things that come from college life looked like. Over the next several hours things were moved in and several laughs could be heard as well as several curses.

Kagome absolutely hated wires, she'd forced Teppei to set up her entertainment center, Between her flat screen, sound system, her game consoles and that infernal DVD player that sometimes acted like it was possessed. Suguri had been helping her set up the office in the smallest bedroom, as much as she hated wires it was honestly like they were everywhere with the printer/fax machine, the scanner, and a desktop computer. She'd also gotten around to getting a proper tablet and the program Photoshop and everything that was included in the package deal.

"Kagome, do you really need all this stuff?" Suguri asked finally getting off her knees after plugging everything in to one of the power strips that Kagome had bought for her entertainment system and office.

"Hmm, yeah… I don't really like the fact that I have to need all this stuff, but I do my own covers and drawings and writing, so I don't really have a choice." Kagome smiled, glad that at least all her electrical stuff was finished. Now all that was really left happened to be her clothing and the dishes… of which she needed to get new ones because almost all of them were either missed match or they were just that old, and she didn't even want to think about the pots and pans or cooking utensils that she just didn't have.

Both of them sighed before walking into the living area, Teppei had long since finished and happened to be looking at his watch as if debating on what he should do. It was probably close to six at night, he and Suguri would be pushing it to get into Tokyo for a goodnights sleep. Sighing he looked up to find the two of them walking his way.

"Hey, we've got to go." Teppei frowned, he was a little worried, Kagome was a little way from the main kennel and compound.

Suguri sighed, "I suppose so." She couldn't help but frown, she was really going to miss Kagome, she always knew what to do when someone was down.

It didn't take long for the two of them and the dogs to get packed in, hugs were exchanged before the two of them left. Thankfully, Kagome had made arrangements to get a ride back to Tokyo when Teppei needed to pick up more puppies. She still needed to furnish her rooms, she was probably going to drag her futon into the living room to have something to lay or sit on, and just sleep there until she actually got a couch.

Yawning sleepily she walked back toward the cabin, just looking at her new home caused her heart and stomach to jump in excitement. It was hard to believe that this was really going to be all hers while she was working there. Rubbing at the kink in her neck, she opened the front door of the cabin before walking toward the master bedroom where the dogs had settled for the last several hours.

Nakatani-san had put them there after taking them on a nice long walk after the car ride, they had been pretty quit and she could only imagine what they were getting into. Of course, she'd been checking on them over the hours, as the door swung open she blinked when there was a distinct lack of doggies coming to meet her. Walking toward the back she just chuckled at the sight before her, Hajime was curled up while Choko, who was snuggled up into his side, Hotaru on the other hand was sitting beside the door of the bedroom she'd been waiting on Kagome to come back in to go for a walk.

"Alright, Lady, let's go." Kagome grinned, the two of them quickly made their way to the door, both of them were rather excited about seeing more of the land surrounding the cabin. Kagome looked toward the sky, it really was lovely. The sun was just starting to set, the reds, purples and oranges seemed to explode across the sky while the clouds seemed to break it up and show a darker blue. It was a lot like one of those skies you would expect at the beach or something from a romantic scene in a movie

Hotaru took of just like she was meant to do, it was just in her genes. As a Saluki she was raised to be a hunter and she was fantastic if Kagome could say so herself, she was really good at following commands even when she went into hunter mode.

"Ah, Hotaru…" Kagome sighed as she watched her dog head across the foot bridge toward the meadow she and Suguri had seen earlier. The meadow was extremely large and from what Suguri told her there were a number of foot bridges and cleared spaces like the meadow, if Hotaru got too far away, Kagome wasn't sure if she could find her way back.

Groaning, Kagome took off, she could hear the dog barking and she could only wonder what the Saluki was after. She usually only went after squirrels just because they were harder for her to catch compared to mice or rats found around Woofles.

Looking across the meadow, she couldn't see a darn thing at all it was slowly getting darker making it harder to see. Hearing barking toward the left of the foot bridge, Kagome turned and started running. Well, this could certainly be fun, at least for Hotaru… she on the other hand had been hoping for a quick run and crashing on the futon so she could just pass out. It looked like it just wasn't meant to be.

Hearing a startled yelp Kagome turned, looking around she could hear the yelp change to an excited bark. Frowning, her eyes went wide at the human shape that had come into her vision just as she rounded a tree, trying to stop herself she winced when she crashed into the person. It was most definitely male, he was tall, hard, and extremely warm.

She could feel her movement stop completely after she seemed to bounce back, only to be stopped when a strong hand grabbed hold of her wrist, and the other cupped her waist to keep her from moving.

A deep rumbling baritone could be heard as it echoed off the trees and seemed to hover in the air, "Who are you?"

Kagome could feel her cheeks rush with heat, she knew the hand or forearm or whatever was pressed against her body was suppose to keep her from falling but she really wished it would move. Trying to shake the thoughts from her mind, she looked up and the color in her face seemed to deepen; he was a handsome guy with a clean shaven face and longish hair that fell just over his shoulders. Dark gray eyes seemed to stare into her own, she felt trapped there, drowning in the unknown man's face. Just as quickly she was broken from her thoughts when Hotaru and a large Bernese Mountain dog pushed their way between them.

"Hotaru/Kazuki" they both spoke almost in unison, and both dogs froze before sitting themselves beside their respective partners.

Kagome could only blink in surprise before she stepped back out of the arms of the man who'd kept her from falling, she could tell he was studying her closely but she was doing the same. Finally finding her voice she spoke, "I'm Kagome Higurashi… this is Hotaru," Kagome paused for a few moments to rub the dogs head, before continuing, "I'll be working here at Nakatani Heartlands starting tomorrow. Who… who are you?"

Those gray eyes continue to study her, "You're the one Teppei and Suguri asked about… you're staying at cabin four." He continued, and could only frown. He wasn't really sure what to make of the woman in front of him, she was wearing a simple t-shirt that was promoting an all-natural dog food brand that showed of a large plump chest and a pair of jean shorts that seemed to be too small considering that they didn't even reach mid thigh and they accentuated wide hips… he got a nice long look at a pair of extremely long athletic legs.

Kagome frowned, how would he know all that? "Who are you exactly?" She couldn't help but feel nervous… she'd had a stalker before and knew how it felt, what if it was another crazy guy like the last one? She could feel Hotaru beginning to fidget beside her before the tall dog pushed forward and sat in front of her legs, as if to protect her owner.

A thin eyebrow raised, he hadn't intended to make her or the dog that nervous, "I'm Minoru Kayaba… I'm a worker here, you'll be working with me tomorrow morning. This is Kazuki." Minoru promptly turned, leaving in the direction of the main house.

Kagome blinked, she felt like she should say sometime but her mouth seemed to have become dry and she could only stare after him. Suguri had told her about the boy, or well he seemed to be a man now, Minoru… a good guy but it would take awhile before she got to break through that shell of his.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Hotaru and herself made their way home. Walking into the door way, Kagome thoughts kept straying to the man she'd ran into. She usually had a good grip on people, even those she'd only met for a few moments, but he was like a large enigma… one she wasn't sure if she should try to figure out.

Yanking her hair tie out in frustration, Kagome huffed before a small growl of internal anger escaped her mouth, she could only think back to the short and abrupt conversation she'd had with the taller man. It hadn't been condescending but it was obvious that he hadn't approved of what he'd seen. While she wouldn't admit it, it had pissed her off, she knew that she wasn't a bad looking girl. So, what right did he have to give her that kind of look?

Continuing to grumble, she yanked off the t-shirt and jean shorts, she continued to strip while Hotaru could only watch wide eyed and if someone was looking closely a brand of doggie humor. Grumbling, she pulled out a blanket from one of the boxes that had yet to be unpacked, before plopping down on the futon and closing her eyes. Twitching, she looked over to find Hotaru padding her way before curling up at her back near Choko and Hajime, "Good night, girl… I'm going to show him how good I am." Kagome stated before yawning loudly, it wasn't long before her eyes fluttered close and she was promptly asleep.


End file.
